We got standing ovation for our film at Cannes: Ritesh Batra

By HT

While working on a documentary on the dabbawalas of Mumbai, director Ritesh Batra was fascinated to know how these people have an insight into the lives of those people for whom they deliver food for: mostly housewives.

That’s when he developed the idea of writing a story of two distant lives connecting through a dabba delivery gone wrong. “It was an overwhelming experience at Cannes. The audience received the film with great enthusiasm,” he says, talking about his debut feature film. “We received standing ovation and cheers for our film,” he adds.

The Mumbai-born director is hopeful that the film would be loved by the Indian audience as well. On being asked about the movie’s release in India, Batra says, “We are working on it and hopefully the film will be released here later this year or next year.”

About casting Irrfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, he says, “The moment I finished writing the script for The Lunchbox, I immediately knew they were perfect for the role. Both the actors loved the script and the characters.”